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CONSTITUTION 


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OF THE 


STATE OF COAHDILA AND TEXAS 


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The Governor of the state of Coahnila and Texas, to all the inhabit¬ 
ants thereof: Be it known, that the organizing congress of said state has 
decreed and sanctioned the following political constitution of the State 
of Coahnila and Texas. 

In the name of the Creator and Supreme Lawgiver of the Universe, the 
Congress of the State of Coahnila and Texas, desiring to comply with 
the will of the people, their constituents, and for the purpose of duly 
fulfilling the grand and magnificent object of promoting the glory and 
prosperity of said state, decrees for its administration and government 
the following 


CONSTITUTION. 

Preliminary Provisions. 

Art. 1. The State of Coahuila and Texas is the union of all the 
Coahuiltexanos. ^ 

Art. 2. It is free, and independent of the other Mexican United States, 
and of every other power and dominion whatsoever. 

Art. 3. The sovereignty of the state resides originally and essentially 
in the general mass of the individuals who compose it, but they shall not, 
of themselves, exercise any other acts of sovereignty than those pointed 
out in this constitution, and in the form which it provides. 

Art. 4. In all subjects relating to the Mexican confederacy the state 
delegates its powers and rights to the general congress of the same, but 
in all that belongs to the internal srovernment and administration of said 

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state, it retains its liberty, independence and sovereignty. 

Art. 5. Wherefore, the right of establishing its fundamental laws 
through the medium of its representatives, in conformity to the basis 
established in the constitutive act and general constitution, belongs ex¬ 
clusively to the said state. 


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1821 

Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. ' 



Art. 6. The territory of the state is the same as that embraced in the 
provinces formerly known by the names of Coahuila and Texas. A con¬ 
stitutional law shall mark out its limits, in respect to the adjoining states, 

of the Mexican Confederacy. 

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Art. 7. For the better administration thereof, the territory of the state 
shall for the present be divided into three departments as follows,—- 


Bexar ,—Embracing all the territory corresponding to what was called 
province of Texas, which shall form one sole district. 

Monclova ,—Consisting of the district of the same name, and that of 
Rio Grande. 

Saltillo ,—Comprehending the district of the same name, and that of 
Parras. 

Art. 8. Hereafter congress may alter, vary, and modify this division 
of the territory of the state as it shall judge most conducive to the felicity 
of the people. 

Art. 9. The Roman Catholic Apostolic Religion shall be the religion 

of the state. The state protects it by wise and just laws, and prohibits the 

exercise of anv other. 

• *./ 

Art. 10. The state shall regulate and pay all expense that should be 
necessary for the preservation of religious worship, agreeably to the con- 
cordates the nation should ratify with the Apostolic See, and to the laws 
that shall be prescribed on the exercise of the patronato throughout the 
republic. 

Art. 11. Every man who resides within the limits of the state, al¬ 
though but transiently, shall enjoy the imprescriptible rights of liberty, 
security, property and equality; and it is the duty of said state to pre¬ 
serve and protect by wise and equitable laws, these universal rights of 
men. 

Art. 12. The state is also obligated to protect all its inhabitants in the 
exercise of the right which they possess of writing, printing and freely 
publishing their sentiments and political opinions, without the necessity 
of any examination, or critical review previous to their publication, under 
the responsibility and restrictions that are now, or shall be hereafter es¬ 
tablished by the general laws on the subject. 

Art. 13. From and after the promulgation of the constitution in the 
capital of each district, no one shall be born a slave in the state, and after 
six months the introduction of slaves under any pretext shall not be 
permitted. 

Art, 14. In return, all men who inhabit the state shall obey its laws, 
respect its constituted authorities, and constribute to its support in the 
manner it requires. 

Art. 15. All kinds of vacant property within its limits, and all intestate 
property without a legal successor, shall belong to the state. 

Art. 16. The state shall be composed solely of two classes of persons.— 
viz: Coahuiltexanos , and the citizens of Coahuila and Texas. 

Art. 17. The following persons shall be Coahuiltexians. 



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Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 


315 


First ,—All men born and domiciliated in the territory of the state, 
and the children of the same. 

Second, —All those born in any other part of the territory of the repub¬ 
lic, who shall fix their residence in the state. 

Third, —Foreigners, of whatever nation, now legally established in the 
state. 

Fourth, —Foreigners, who obtain from congress letters of citizenship, 
or become domiciliated in the state according to the law that shall be en¬ 
acted as soon as the general congress issues the general Nuturalization 
Law, which, agreeably to the 27tli prerogative conferred by the constitu¬ 
tion of the republic, ought to be established. 

Art. 18. The following shall be freemen of Coahuila and Texas. 

First, —All men born in the state and domiciliated in any part of the 
territorv thereof. 

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Second, —xVll citizens of the other states and territory of the republic, 
as soon as they are domiciliated in the state. 

Third, —All sons of Mexican citizens, born without the territory of 
the republic, who establish their domicil in the state. 

Fourth, —Foreigners, from whatever country, now legally domiciliated 
in the state. 

Fifth, —Foreigners, now enjoying the rights of Coahuiltexanos, who 
shall obtain special certificates of citizenship from congress. The laws 
shall prescribe the qualifications and conditions for granting them the 
same. 

Art. 19. Those born within the territory of the republic, and foreign¬ 
ers domiciliated therein (except minors, when the political liberties of the 
country were proclaimed, who did not remain true to the cause of its 
independence, but emigrated to a foreign country, or dependency of 
Spain, shall neither be Coahuiltexians, nor citizens of Coahuila and 
Texas. 

Art. 20. The rights of citizenship shall be forfeited. 

First ,—By becoming naturalized in a foreign country. 

Second ,—By admitting office, pension, or title form a foreign govern¬ 
ment without permission from congress. 

Third, —By receiving executory sentence, wherein corporal or dis¬ 
graceful punishment is imposed. 

Fourth, —By a person selling his vote, or buying that of another for 
himself, or a third person, whether in popular assemblies, or in any other ; 
and bv violation of public trust in the said assemblies, whether by presi¬ 
dents, secretaries, tellers, or those discharging any other public func¬ 
tion. 

Fifth ,—By having resided five years in succession without the territory 
of the republic, without a commission from the general government or 
that of the state, or without licence from the latter. 

Art. 21. A person who forfeits the rights of a citizen cannot recover 
the same, unless reinstated therein by congress. 


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Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 


Art. 22. The exercise of the said rights shall be suspended. 

First ,—For moral or physical disability, after judicial investigation. 

Second ,—For not having attained the age of twenty-one years, except 
married persons, who shall enjoy the said rights from the time they marry, 
whatever be their age. ; 

Third ,—For being debtor to the public funds, the time of payment hav¬ 
ing expired, and payment having been demanded. 

Fourth ,—For being under criminal prosecution, until acquitted or sen¬ 
tenced to a punishment not corporal or disgraceful. 

> Fifth ,—For having no employment, trade, or known way of sup¬ 
port. 

Sixth ,—For not being able to read and write, but tjiis provision shall 
not take effect until after the year 1850, and with respect to those who 
shall enter on the exercise of the rights of citizens after that time. 

Art. 23. Only for the causes specified in articles 20 and 22 shall the 
rights of citizenship be forfeited or suspended. 

Art. 24. None but citizens in the exercise of their rights shall vote for 
officers of the state in cases designated by law, and such only shall be 
elected to the said officers, and all othes of the state. 

Art. 25. Offices requiring persons belonging to any professional facul¬ 
ty shall be excepted from the latter part of the preceding article, and may 
be conferred upon persons not residing in the state. 

FORM OF GOVERNMENT OF THE STATE. 

Art. 26. The object of the government shall be the happiness of the 
individuals who compose it, since the end of every political society is no 
other than the wellbeing of its members. 

Art. 27. The officers of the gevernment cloathed with any kind of 
authority are mere agents or delegates of the state, responsible to the 
same for their political conduct. 

Art. 28. The federal republican shall be the form of government of the 
state. In pursuance thereof there shall be no hereditary office or privi¬ 
lege in the state. 

Art. 29. The supreme poAvers of the state shall be diAdded for its ex¬ 
ercise into legislative, executive and judicial, and neither these three poAv- 
ers, or any two of the same, shall ever be united in one corporation or 
person, nor shall the legislative be deposited in one individual alone. 

Art. 30. The exercise of the legislative power shall reside in a congress 
composed of deputies, chosen by the people. 

Art. 31. The executive power shall reside in a citizen, to be styled the 
governor of the state, and to be chosen by the people. 

Art. 32. The exercise of the judicial power shall reside in the tribunals 
and courts of justice established by this constitution. 



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Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 


317 


TITLE I. 

LEGISLATIVE POWER OF THE STATE. 

SECTION I. 

Deputies of Congress. 

Art. 33. Congress shall be the union of the deputies, representing 
the state, and elected in conformity to this constitution. Until the year 
1832, it shall consist of the number of twelve deputies proper, and six 
substitute deputies. 

Art. 34. During the present year, and last of every ten years follow¬ 
ing, Congress may augment the number of its deputies, on the basis of 
one for every thousand souls. 

Art. 35. The election of deputies proper and substitutes, shall be 
holden at the same time in each and every district of the state. 

Art. 36. To be eligible to the office of deputy, proper or substitute 
the following qualifications at the time of the election shall be re¬ 
quired. 

First ,—To be a citizen in the enjoyment of his right. 

Second ,—To have attained the age of Twenty-five years. 

Third ,—To be domiciliated in the state, and te have resided therein 
the two years immediately preceding the election. 

Art. 37. Those not born within the territory of the republic, to he 
eligible as deputies, proper or substitutes, shall have been eight years 
domiciliated therein, and possess real estate to the amount of eight thou¬ 
sand dollars, or an industrious employment that that shall yield them one 
thousand dollars per annum, and the qualifications provided in the pre¬ 
ceding article. 

Art. 38. Natives of any other part of America, subject to Spain in 
1810, and not now annexed to any other nation, nor in subjection to 
the former, shall be excepted from the foregoing article, and for such 
three years domicil in this republic, and the requisites prescribed in 
article 36, shall be sufficient. 

Art. 39. The following persons cannot be deputies, proper or sub¬ 
stitutes. 

First ,—The governor and vice governor of the state, and members 
of the executive council. 

Second ,—Officers of the republic. 

Third ,—Civil officers appointed by the executive of the state. 

Fourth, —Ecclesiastics, exercising any jurisdiction or authority in the 
district where the election is holden. 

Fifth ,—Foreigners in time of war between their own country and 
this republic. 


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Constitution of Coahuila and Texas . 


Art. 40. The officers of the republic, or of the state, comprised in 
the foregoing article, to be eligible as deputies, shall have entirely ceased 
in office four months previous to the election. 

Art. 41. Should the same person be chosen deputy proper for two 
or more districts, he shall prefer the choice for that wherein he is 
domiciliated for the time being. Should he not be domiciliated in either, 
that of his native district shall prevail. Should he neither be domicili¬ 
ated in, or a native of any of said districts, that of the one which the- 
deputy chosen shall himself designate, shall be effective. In either of 
these cases, or in that of death, should it be impossible, in the opinion 
of congress, for the deputies proper to perform their functions, the re¬ 
spective substitute deputies shall fill their places. 

Art. 42. Should the same person also prove to be elected substitute 
deputy for two or more districts, the same order of preference shall be 
observed as provided in the three first parts of the preceding article, 
and in the other districts that remain without a substitute deputy, the 
vacancy shall be filled by the one who received in the respective electoral 
assembly, the next highest number of votes to that of the one whose 
place is to be filled. In case of a tie, it shall be decided by lot. 

Art. 43. The deputies during the time of discharging their duties, 
shall receive from the state treasury such pay as the preceding con¬ 
gress shall assign them, and they shall furthermore be paid the amount 
that said congress thinks proper for the expense they have to incur in 
repairing to the place of session, and in returning home after the close of 
the same. 

Art. 44. At no time, in no case, and to no authority shall the deputy 
be responsible for the opinions they manifest in the discharge of their 
duties. In criminal actions that should be commenced against them 
they shall be tried by the tribunals hereinafter mentioned, and from 
the day of their election until the expiration of the two years term of 
service, they can be accused only before congress, which shall form itself 
into a grand jury, for declaring whether there be a just ground of ac¬ 
tion. 

Art. 45. During the time of their service, reckoned for this object 
from the day of their election, they can obtain no office of provision of 
the executive, either for themselves, or request it for another, not even 
promotion, except by the scale in their respective career. 


SECTION II. 


ELECTION OF DEPUTIES. 

Art. 46. For the election of deputies, municipal and district electoral 
assemblies shall be holden. 


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Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 


319 


PARAGRAPH FIRST. 

Municipal Electoral Assemblies. 

Art. 47. Municipal electoral assemblies shall be composed of citi¬ 
zens in the enjoyment of their rights, domicilated and resident within the 
limits of the respective Ayuntamiento. No person of this class shall 
decline attending the same. 

Art. 48. Said assemblies .shall be holden on the first Sunday, and day 
following, in the month of August of the year preceding that of the re¬ 
newal of congress, for choosing district electors, who are to elect the 
deputies, and eight days previous, the president of each Ayuntamiento, 
without the necessity of awaiting any orders shall convoke the citizens 
of his district by the proper edict, or as the custom may be, to con¬ 
vene in order to hold the election at the time and in the manner this 
constitution provides, previously giving notice to the haciendas and ran¬ 
chos of said district that it may come to the knowledge of the inhabi¬ 
tants thereof. 

Art. 49. That the citizens may more conveniently attend, each Ayun¬ 
tamiento, according to the locality and population of its territory, shall 
determine the number of municipal assemblies to be formed within 
its limits, and the public places where they shall be holden, designating 
to each the places corresponding thereto. 

Art. 50. They shall be presided, one by the chief of police, or the 
Alcalde, and the rest by the other individuals of the Ayuntamiento, as it 
shall fall to them by lot, and in default of the latter, said corporation 
shall choose for president of the respective municipal assembly, an in¬ 
habitant of the district assigned thereto, who can read and write. 

Art. 51. On the aforementioned Sunday in August, the hour of the 
meeting having arrived, and the citizens assembled in the place ap¬ 
pointed, being together, the said assembly shall commence by choosing 
from among themselves, by majority of vote one secretary and two tellers, 
who can also read and write. 

Art. 52. The election shall remain open on both days specified in 
article 48, four hours each, divided in morning and evening, and a reg¬ 
ister shall be kept in each assembly to record therein the votes of the 
citizens convened to choose the district electors, entering alphabetically 
the names of the voters and candidates. 

Art. 53. To be eligible as district elector it shall be required to be a 
citizen in the exercise of his rights, to have attained the age of twenty- 
five years—to be able to read and write, and to be domiciliated and resi¬ 
dent in the same district one year, immediately preceding the election. 

Art. 54. Each citizen shall vote for the respective district elec¬ 
tors, viva voce or in writing, in the former case the voter shall call the 
name of those for whom he votes, in an audible voice, and should-he 
give in his vote in writing, the secretary shall read the ticket in the same 


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Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 


manner, and enter the same in the register, indispensably in the presence- 
of the voter. No person shall vote for himself in this or the other elec¬ 
toral acts under penalty of losing the right of voting. 

Art. 55. In a district where only one deputy is to be elected, eleven,, 
and where two or more, twenty-one electors shall be chosen. 

Art. 56. Doubts or controversies that arise whether any person or 
persons present possess the qualifications required for voting shall be 
decided verbally by the assembly, and the decision shall be executed 
without appeal for that time and purpose only, it being understood that 
the doubt shall not turn upon the provision of this constitution, or other 
laws. Should there be a tie in resolving thereon, absolutory sentence 
shall be given. 

Art. 57. Should complaints arise of bribery, subornation, or force 
to cause the election to result in favor of particular persons, the case 
shall be publicly and verbally canvassed and brought to a decision. 
Should the accusation prove to be true, the offenders shall be deprived 
of a voice, active and passive. False accusers shall suffer the same pen¬ 
alty. From this decision there shall be no appeal. Doubts in regard 
to the nature of the testimony shall be decided in the manner stated in 
the preceding article. 

Art. 58. Municipal assemblies shall be holden with open doors, with¬ 
out any guard and no person, of whatever class, shall appear armed 
therein. 

Art. 59. The election on both days having terminated, the president, 
secretary and tellers of each assembly shall proceed to count and cast up 
the number of votes received by the several candidates in the register, 
and sign the same, which having been done the assembly shall be dis¬ 
solved, and any other act in which they interfere shall not only be null, 
but shall be considered an offence against the public safety.—Said reg¬ 
ister shall be delivered enclosed to the secretary of the respective Ayun¬ 
tamiento. 

Art. 60. On the second Sunday of the month of August aforesaid, 
each Ayuntamiento shall convene in their respective town halls in public 
session. In their presence, the president, tellers and secretary of the 
municipal assemblies being also present, the registers shall be opened, 
and in view of all of said registers, a general list shall be formed al¬ 
phabetically, comprising all the candidates and number of votes they 
have received. 

Art. 61. Said list, and the act of corporation that shall be writ¬ 
ten out relative to the subject, shall be signed by the president of the 
Ayuntamiento, and secretary of the same, and the secretaries of the as¬ 
semblies. Two copies of the aforementioned list shall then be drawn 
off, authorized by the same persons, one which shall be immediately 
posted in the most public place, and the other delivered with the corre¬ 
sponding official letter, signed by the president of the Ayuntamiento to 
two individuals whom said board shall appoint from its own body that 
they may proceed to the capital of the district to join those commissioned 


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Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 321 

by the other Ayuntamientos, in order to make the general regulation of 
the votes. 

Art. 62. On the fourth Sunday in August those commissioned by 
the Ayuntamientos shall present themselves, with the credentials of their 
appointment, to the chief of police, and in his default, to the first al¬ 
calde of the capital of the district, and the former or latter, as the case 
may be. presiding, they shall meet in the town halls in public session, 
and, in view of all the lists, shall form a general list of the persons chosen 
district electors by the citizens of their respective district, stating the 
number of votes they have received, and places of their residence. 

Art. 63. In order to make the said general regulation of votes, the 
concurrence of four commissioners at least shall be required. In dis¬ 
tricts where said number cannot meet, the Ayuntamiento of the capital 
town shall choose from their own body the persons wanting to complete 
the same. 

Art. 64. The citizens resulting, by this general scrutiny, to have the 
greatest number of votes in the list, shall be considered constitutionally 
chosen as electors In case of a tie between two or more persons it ,shall 
be decided by lot. 

Art. 65. The aforementioned list, and act relative to the subject shall 
be signed by the president, commissioners, and secretary of the Ayunta¬ 
miento of the capital of the district. Copies of both shall be drawn off 
authenticated by the same persons, and forwarded by the president to the 
permanent deputation of congress, to the governor of the state, and to 
the Ayuntamientos within the precincts of the district. 

Art. 66. Said president shall forward the corresponding official letter 
forthwith to the electors chosen, in order that they may meet in the 
capital of the district on the day provided by the constitution, for the 
purpose of holding the electoral assembly of the same. 


PARAGRAPH SECOND. 

District Electoral Assemblies. 

Art. 67. District electoral assemblies shall be composed of the electors 
chosen by the citizens in the municipal assemblies, who shall meet in 
the capital of the respective district to choose the deputy or deputies 
corresponding thereto, to meet in congress as representatives of the 
state. 

Art. 68. Said assemblies shall be holden at the expiration of fifteen 
days from making the general regulation of votes mentioned in article 
62, the electors convening in the town halls or in the building con¬ 
sidered most appropriate for so solemn an act, with open doors, and with¬ 
out a guard, and no person, of whatever class, shall appear armed in the 
said assemblies. 

Art. 69 . They shall be presided by the police chief and in his de¬ 
fault, by the first alcalde of the capital of the district,. commencing 
their sessions by choosing from their own body, by majority of vote, a 
secretary and two tellers; the president shall then cause the credentials 


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Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 


of the electors to be read, which shall be the official letters, wherein 
they were notified of their appointment. 

Art. 70. The president shall then inquire if there be any legal nullity 
on the part of any elector for his being such; and should it be proved 
in the act that there is, the elector shall loose the right of voting. The 
president shall afterwards also enquire if any bribery, subornation, or 
force has been used for the election of any particular person, and should 
it be proved in the act that there has, the delinquents shall be de¬ 
prived of a voice, active and passive, and false accusers shall suffer the 
same penalty. Doubts that arise in either case shall be decided by the 
assembly, in the manner mentioned in article 56. 

Art. 71. The electors present shall then immediately proceed to make 
choice of the deputy or deputies corresponding to the district, and they 
shall be elected one by one by secret scrutiny, by means of slips which 
each elector shall deposit in an urn placed upon a table at the foot of 
. a Crucifix, after being sworn before the same, and by the president that 
for deputies to the congress of the state, he will give his vote for those 
citizens, who in his opinion possess the qualifications of education, in¬ 
tegrity, probity, and well known adherence to the cause of the national 
independence. 

Art. 72. On conclusion of the voting, the president, tellers and secre¬ 
tary shall examine the votes, and the candidate who received more than 
one half of the votes shall be deputy, constitutionally elected, the presi¬ 
dent declaring each election. Should no one have received the absolute 
majority, the two highest candidates shall be run in a second balloting. 
Should more than two persons have received a like respective majority, 
they shall all be run in the second balloting, and the .same shall be done 
when no one has received said majority, but all an equal number of votes. 
In all these cases the candidate receiving the majority of votes shall be 
elected; should there be a tie, the balloting shall be repeated once only, 
and should there still be a tie, it shall be decided by lot. 

Art. 73. Should one individual only have received the respective ma¬ 
jority, and two or more persons an equal number of votes, but greater 
than that of all the others, to decide which of them shall run in a second 
balloting with the former, there shall be a second balloting between them, 
and the one who should receive the most votes shall enter in competition 
with the candidate who received the respective majority. In case of a 
tie the balloting shall be repeated, and should there still be a tie, it 
shall be decided by lot. In the second balloting between the one who 
received the respective majority over all the candidates, and his rival, 
the provision made in the last part of the preceding article shall be 
observed. 

Art. 74. When one person only has received the respective majority, 
and all the rest an equal number of votes, to determine which of the 
latter shall enter in competition in a second balloting with the for¬ 
mer, the entire provision made in the preceding article with this view 


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Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 323 

in respect to those between whom there was a tie shall be executed, and 
to determine also which of the rival candidates shall be elected deputy, 
the provision of the last part of said article shall be observed. 

Art. 75. The election of deputies proper having closed, that of the 
substitutes shall immediately follow in the same method and form, and 
the latter having also terminated, a list containing the names of all tire 
deputies elected, signed by the secretary of the respective assembly, shall 
he immediately posted in the most public place. The electoral act shall 
be signed by the president and all the electors, and the former, the sec¬ 
retary and tellers, shall forward copies, authenticated by themselves, to 
the permanent deputation of congress, to the governor of the state, and 
to all the ayuntamientos of the district. Said assemblies, as soon as they 
have performed the acts pointed out in this law, shall immediately dis¬ 
solve, and any other in which they interfere shall be null, and further¬ 
more reputed an offence against the public safety. 

Art. 76. The president shall also seasonably dispatch the correspond¬ 
ing official letter to the deputies proper and substitutes, accompanied by 
an attested copy of the act, to serve them as a credential of their elec¬ 
tion. 

Art. 77. No citizen shall decline discharging from any cause or pre¬ 
text, the duties mentioned in this section. 


SECTION III. 

HOLDING SESSIONS. * 

Art. 78. Congress shall meet every year and hold its sessions, at the 
place that shall be designated by law for that purpose. When it should 
find it convenient to remove to another place, it may do ,so, provided, 
that two-thirds of all the deputies shall so agree. 

Art. 79. The deputies shall present their credentials to the standing 
deputation of congress that it may proceed to examine and determine 
on the same, having in view the attested copies of the elections of the 
electoral district assemblies. 

Art. 80. On the 28th of December of the year preceding that of the 
renewal of congress, the deputies newly elected and members of the per¬ 
manent deputation shall meet in public session, and the president and 
secretary of said deputation shall act as such in said assembly. Said as¬ 
sembly shall discuss the subject of the legality of the credentials and 
qualifications of the deputies, and doubts that arise in regard to those 
two points shall be decided by said assembly, by majority of vote, those 
members of the standing deputation who liave not been re-elected not 
having a vote. 

Art. 81. The president shall then administer to the deputies the cor¬ 
responding oath to respect the constitutive act, the constitution of this 
republic, and that of the state, and cause the same to be respected, and 
fully to fulfil the duties of their trust. 


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324 Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 

Art. 82. The deputies shall then proceed to elect from among them¬ 
selves by ballot, and majority of all the votes, a president, vice president 
and two secretaries, with which the permanent deputation shall cease 
in all its functions, and the members thereof immediately retiring, should 
they not have been re-elected, the president of congress shall declare 
that said body is solemnly and legally established. 

Art. 83. For holding all other sessions, ordinary and extra, the depu¬ 
ties shall meet four days previous to that of opening the same in the 
manner provided in the first part of article 80, in order to resolve, in 
the same form as mentioned in the second part of said article, upon the 
legality of the credentials and qualifications of the deputies that arc 
again presented, and being approved the deputies shall immediately be 
sworn as prescribed in article 81, and they shall then proceed to make 
choice of a president, vice president and secretaries in the same manner 
as provided in article 82. 

Art. 84. Congress shall open its ordinary sessions on the first day of 
January, annually, and on the first of September, of every year following 
that of the renewal of congress, it being the duty of the governor to 
attend, in such important acts, who shall deliver a message in accord¬ 
ance with the state of affairs, to which the president of congress shall 
reply in general terms. 

Art. 85. On the day following that of the opening of the ordinary 
sessions, the governor shall present himself to give information to con¬ 
gress in writing, of the state of the public administration, proposing the 
measures or reforms that may be made in each and every department 
thereof. 

Art. 86. The sessions of congress shall be daily, with no other inter¬ 
ruption than that of annual holidays. They shall all be public, except 
those whereon subjects are to be treated requiring reserve, which may 
be private. 

Art. 87. The ordinary sessions of congress, commencing on the first 
of January shall continue for that month, and the three following, of 
February, March and April, and shall not be prorogued except for one 
month at the longest, and in only two cases, first on petition of the gov¬ 
ernor, second, should congress itself judge necessary, and in both cases 
the vote of two-thirds of all the members shall be required. The ordi¬ 
nary sessions commencing on the first of September shall continue for 
the 30 days of said month, and from no cause, and under no pretence 
shall they be prolonged. Both .shall be closed with the same formalities 
as prescribed for opening the same. 

Art. 88. Congress, before closing its ordinary sessions, shall choose 
from its own body a permanet deputation composed of three members, 
proper, and one substitute which .shall continue during the whole of the 
interval between both terms of ordinary session. The first chosen shall 
be president, and last member proper, secretary thereof. 

Art. 89. When circumstances or business occur during the inter¬ 
val between both terms of ordinary session, requiring the meeting of 


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Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 


325 


congress, it may be convoked to extra session, provided, that by unani¬ 
mous vote two-thirds of the members of the standing deputation, and of 
the executive council, convened for that purpose, shall so agree. 

Art. DO. .Should the circumstances or business that occasioned the 
extra convocation of congress be very weighty and urgent, the standing 
deputation, convened with the council and other members present in 
the capitol, shall take the necessary temporary measures, and give notice 
thereof to congress as soon as it shall have convened. 

Art. 91. When congress meets to hold extra sessions, the same depu¬ 
ties shall be called to concur therein, whose duty it is to attend the ordi¬ 
nary sessions of that year, and they shall be exclusively engaged upon the 
subject or subjects comprized in the letter of convocation; but should 
tliev not have concluded the same bv the time the ordinary sessions are to 
be opened, the extra sessions shall be closed, and the business for which 
they were called, be continued in the former. 

Art. 92. Holding extra sessions shall not impede the election of new 
deputies at the time prescribed by this constitution. 

Art. 93. The extra shall be opened and closed with the same form¬ 
alities as the ordinary sessions. 

Art. 94. The governor shall cause all resolutions adopted by congress 
on removal of its residence, or prorogation of its sessions, to be executed,, 
without making observations thereon. 

Art. 95. Congress in all that pertains to its internal order and govern¬ 
ment, shall observe the rules that shall be formed by the present congress, 
with power to make therein, such reforms as it may judge neces¬ 
sary. 

Art. 90. The deputies shall be entirely renewed every two years, and 
those of the preceding congress may be re-elected, but they shall not be 
obligated to accept this charge until after the interval occupied by a 
deputation. The deputies of the present congress shall for this time be 
excepted from the provision of this article, and shall not be re-elected to 
the next constitutional congress. 


SECTION IV. 

Powers of Congress , and its Permanent Deputation. 

Art. 97. The following prerogatives shall belong to congress. 

First ,—To enact, interpret, amend or repeal the laws relative to the 
administration and internal government of the state in all its branches. 

Second ,—Regulate the votes received by citizens at the electoral dis¬ 
trict assemblies for governor, vice governor and councillors, and make 
choice of the same, as the case may be. 

Third, —To decide by ballot the ties that occur between two or more 
persons in elections to said trusts. 


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Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 


Fourth ,—Resolve upon doubts that arise upon said elections, and upon 
the qualifications of the persons elected. 

Fifth ,—Examine the reasons offered by those elected for not accepting 
said offices, and resolve thereon as it shall think proper. 

Sixth ,—-Form itself into a grand jury for declaring whether there be a 
just ground of action, both for crimes of office, and for crimes in general, 
committed against the deputies of congress, the governor, vice governor, 
members of the council, secretary of state, and members of the supreme 
tribunal of justice of the state. 

Seventh ,—Render the responsibility of the said public functionaries 
effectual, and provide that it be exacted of the other officers as the case 
mav be. 

Eighth, —Determine every year the state expenditures in view of the 
pre estimates, to be presented by the executive. 

Ninth, —Establish or confirm the imposts, or contributions necessary 
for covering said expense in accordance with this constitution, and that 
of the republic. Regulate their collection, determine their application, 
and approve their distribution. 

Tenth .—Examine and approve the accounts of the disposition of all 
the funds of the state. 

Eleventh ,—Contract debts in case of need, on the credit of the state, 
and designate guaranties for covering the same. 

Twelfth ,—Enact what is proper for the administration, preservation, 
and alienation of the property of the state. 

Thirteenth ,—Create, suspend or abolish the public offices of the state; 
assign, diminish or augment them their salaries, recesses, or labours. 

Fourteenth ,—Grant rewards or recompenses to corporations or persons 
who may have rendered signal services to the state, and decree public 
honors to perpetuate the memery of great men. 

Fifteenth, —Regulate the method of recruiting the men required for 
the service or replacement of the companies of the standing garrison 
militia, of cavalry, or of active militia, belonging to the same auxiliary 
arm of defence as the former, which are destined to the defence of the 
•state by their institution, and approve of the allotments made among the 
towns of the state, of the portions that respectively belong to them for 
fulfilling that object. 

Sixteenth, —Enact what is proper for the enrollment and instruction 
of the civic militia of the state, and appointment of its officers agreeably 
to the discipline that is now, or shall be hereafter prescribed by general 
law. 

Seventeenth ,—Promote and encourage public knowledge and education 
by laws, and the progress of the sciences, arts, and useful establishments, 
removing the obstacles that retard such commendable objects. 

Eighteenth, —Protect the political liberty of the press. 

Nineteenth, —Intervene, and give or withhold its consent in all those 
acts and cases wherein it is provided in this constitution. 


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Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 327 

Art. 98. The following shall he the powers of the standing depu¬ 
tation. 

First ,—To watch over the observance of the constitutive act, constitu¬ 
tion and general laws of the union, and the private laws of the state in 
order to give notice to congress of the violations it may have noticed. 

Second ,—Convoke congress to extra session as the case may he, and in 
the manner prescribed by this constitution. 

Third ,—Discharge the functions assigned it in articles 79 and 80. 

Fourth ,—Notify substitute deputies in order that they may join con¬ 
gress in their turn in lieu of the deputies proper; and in case of default 
or absolute impossibility of both, communicate the corresponding orders 
to the respective district, that it may proceed to a new election. 

Fifth ,—Receive the certified copies of the acts of election of the elec¬ 
toral district assemblies for governor, vice governor, and members of the 
executive council, and deliver them'to congress as soon as it is installed. 


SECTION Y. 

Formation and Promulgation of Laws. 

Art. 99. The form, intervals, and mode of proceeding in discussion 
and in voting on projects of law or decree shall be provided in the internal 
rules of congress. 

Art. 100. No project of law or decree that should be rejected accord¬ 
ing to the rules, shall be again proposed until the ordinary sessions of the 
year following; but this shall not prevent any one or more of their arti¬ 
cles from forming a part of other projects not rejected. 

Art. 101. One more than the half of the entire number of deputies 
tfhall form a quorum for dictating measures and steps not possessing the 
character of law or decree. For discussing and voting upon projects of 
law or decree, and dictating orders of great importance, the concurrence 
of two-thirds of all the members shall be required. 

Art. 102. Should a project of law or decree, after being discussed, be 
approved, it shall be communicated to the governor, who, should he also 
approve it. shall immediately proceed to promulgate and circulate the 
same with the corresponding formalities; but should he not, he may make 
thereon such observations as he may deem proper, previously hearing the 
council, and shall return the same with .his remarks to congress within 
ten available days, reckoned from its reception. 

Art, 103. The projects of law or decree returned by the governor ac¬ 
cording to the preceding article shall be discussed the second time, and 
the public speaker, whom the executive should designate, may attend the 
discussion. Should they be approved by two-thirds of the members pres¬ 
ent, in this second discussion, they shall be again communicated to the 
governor, who, without objecting, shall immediately proceed to 
their formal promulgation and circulation, but should the said 


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328 


Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 


projects not be approved in this form, they cannot be again proposed un¬ 
til the sessions of the year following. 

Art. 104. Should any project of law or decree not be returned by the 
governor within the time assigned in article 102, it shall be considered 
from that very fact as sanctioned, and shall be promulgated as such, 
unless congress should have closed or suspended its sessions during said 
term, in which case it shall be returned on the first day of the next term 
of session. 

Art. 105. Laws shall be repealed with the same formalities, and by the 
same steps as they are established. 


APPENDIX TO TITLE FIRST. 

Election of Deputies to the General Congress . 

Art. 106. The electoral district assemblies, on the same day, and in 
the same method they must perform the election of deputies to the state 
congress, shall proceed to elect the individuals who are to elect the depu¬ 
ties to the general congress, choosing, for every seven thousand souls, one 
person possessing the qualifications required by article 53 of this constitu¬ 
tion. In districts wherein there proves to be an excess of population of 
more than three thousand five hundred souls, for this fraction another 
elector shall be chosen, and in those, whose populaion does not amount 
to seven thousand, one shall be chosen notwithstanding. The election i 

having closed, said juntas shall forward a certified copy of their act to 
the vice governor of the state, and also the corresponding attested copy to 
each person elected, to serve him as a credential. 

Art. 107. The electors thus chosen shall repair to the capitol of the 
state where they shall present themselves to the vice governor, or person 
acting in his stead, and convening under the presidence of either three 
days previous to the first Sunday of October, in public session, in the 
building they consider most appropriate, they shall choose from among 
themselves two tellers and a secretary that they may examine the creden¬ 
tials, and report on the day following whether they are in conformity to 
law. A committee of three persons shall likewise be chosen, to examine 
the credentials of the secretary and tellers. 

Art. 108. On the dav following thev shall again assemble, the minutes 
shall be read, and should any delect be found in the credentials or quali¬ 
fications of the electors, the meeting shall decide without adjourning, 
and the resolution thereof shall be carried into effect without appeal, for 
that time and case only, it being understood that the doubt cannot turn 
upon any provision in this or any other law. 

Art. 109. On the first Sunday of the aforementioned month of Oc¬ 
tober, the electors having convened, and one more than the half of them 
all being present, in the form provided by this constitution for the 
election of deputies to the state congress, they shall proceed to the elec¬ 
tion of those who are to represent the state in the general congress. 


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Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 


329 


This haying been concluded, the meeting shall make the proper provision 
for complying with article 17 of the federal constitution, and it shall 
then dissolve. 


TITLE II. 

EXECUTIVE POWER OF THE STATE. 

SECTION I. 

The Governor. 

Art. 110. The governor of the state shall possess the following quali¬ 
fications at the time of his election. 

First ,—He shall be a citizen in the exercise of his rights. 

Second ,—Born in the territory of the republic. 

Third ,—Have attained the age of thirty years. 

Fourth ,—An inhabitant of this state, having resided five years therein, 
two of which immediately preceding the election. 

Art. 111. Ecclesiastics, military and other officials of the republic, in 
actual service thereof, cannot obtain the office of governor. 

Art. 112. The governor of the state shall continue four years in the dis¬ 
charge of his office, and cannot be re-elected to the same office, except on 
the fourth }^ear from having ceased in his functions. 

Aut. 113. The prerogatives of the governor, his attributes, and the 
restrictions of his powers, shall he as follows. 

PREROGATIVES OF THE GOVERNOR. 

First ,—The governor may make observations upon the laws and de¬ 
crees of congress in the manner and form prescribed by article 102, sus¬ 
pending their publication until said congress resolves thereon, unless in 
cases excepted by this constitution. 

Second ,—He may propose to congress such laws or amendments as he 
thinks conducive to the general good of the state. 

Third ,—He may pardon delinquents conformably to law. 

Fourth ,—The governor cannot be accused for any crime whatever 
committed during his term of office, and one year after, reckoned from 
the date whereon he ceased in his functions, except before congress, and 
after the expiration of that term, not even before congress. 

ATTRIBUTES OF THE GOVERNOR. 

First ,—To take care that the internal order and tranquillity of the 
state be preserved, and of its safety without—for both objects disposing 


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330 


Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 


of the militia of said state, of which he shall he commander in chief 
throughout its territory. 

Second ,—See that the constitutive act, the federal and state constitu¬ 
tion, the laws decrees and orders of the general government, and of the 
congress of said state he fulfilled, issuing the proper orders and decrees 
for their execution. 

Third, —Form, with the advice of the council, such instructions and 
regulations as he deems necessary for the better government of the de¬ 
partments of the public administration of the state, which he shall trans¬ 
mit to congress for approval. 

Fourth ,—Appoint agreeably to the constitution and laws, all the 
officers of state not chosen by the people, or as otherwise provided by law. 

Fifth ,—Freely appoint and remove the secretary of state. 

Sixth ,—See that justice be promptly and fully administered by the 
tribunals and courts of justice of the state, and that their decisions are 
executed. 

Seventh ,—Take care of the administration and collection of all the 
state rents, and decree their disposition according to law. 

Eighth ,—Suspend from office, as long as three months, and deprive 
of even one-half their salary for the same length of time, after hearing 
the advice of the council, all offiicers of the executive department, and 
of his appointment or approval on violating his orders or decrees, trans¬ 
mitting the data on the subject to the respective tribunal, should he 
think there is a proper ground of action. 

Ninth ,—Propose to the standing deputation, whenever he thinks 
proper after hearing the advice of the council, the convocation of con¬ 
gress to extra session. 


RESTRICTIONS OF THE POWERS OF THE GOVERNOR, 


The governor shall not have power.— 

First ,—To command the civic militia of the state in person without 
the express consent of congress or during its recess, the resolution of the 
permanent deputation. Whenever he commands the said militia on the 
aforesaid condition, the vice governor shall discharge the duties of gov¬ 
ernor. 

Second ,—Interfere in the examination of causes pending, or dispose 
in any manner of the persons of those accused in criminal cases, during 
the trial. 

Third ,—To deprive any one of his liberty or impose punishment upon 
him, but when the well being and safety of the state require the arrest 
of any person, he may effect it on condition of putting the persons ar¬ 
rested, within forty-eight hours, at the disposal of a competent tribunal 
or judge. 

Fourth ,—Take possession of the property of any private individual or 
corporation, or disturb him in the possession, use, or benefit thereof. 


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Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 


331 


unless it should he necessary for a purpose of manifest public utility in 
the judgment of the executive council, in which case he may do so with 
the concurrence of the council, and approval of congress, and during the 
recess, of the permanent deputation, always indemnifying the party in¬ 
terested agreeably to the opinion of appraisers cho,sen by the executive 
and the said party. 

Fifth ;—Impede or embarrass in any manner, or under any pretence the 
popular elections determined by this constitution and the laws, or that 
they have their entire effect. 

Sixth ,—Leave the capitol to go to any other part of the state for a 
longer time than one month; should he require a longer time, or should 
he be under the necessity of leaving the state, he shall request licence 
from congress, and during the recess, from the permanent deputation. 

Art 114. For publishing the laws and decrees of the congress of the 
state the governor shall use the following form: 

“The Governor of the State of Coahuila and Texas, to all the inhabi¬ 
tants thereof: Be it known, that the Congress of the State has decreed 
as follows:— 

(The original words of the law or decree to be here inserted.) 

Wherefore I command it to be printed, published, and duly fulfilled. 


SECTION II. 

Vice- Governor. 

Art. 115. There shall likewise be a vice-governor in the state, having 
the same qualifications as those required for governor; his term of office 
four years, and he cannot be re-elected to the same office until on the 
fourth }^ear from, having ceased in his functions. 

Art. 116. The vice-governor shall preside over the council, but with¬ 
out having a vote, except in case of a tie. He shall also be the police 
chief of the department of the capitol; and when he officiates as gover¬ 
nor the office of political chief shall be discharged by a substitute, whom 
he shall himself appoint provisionally with the approval of the council. 

Art. 117. The vice-governor shall discharge the office of governor 
during its vacancy, or when the latter in the opinion of congress or the 
permanent deputation is impeded from serving. 

Art. 118. When the vice-governor also fails, the councillor whom con¬ 
gress appoints shall act in the place of Governor. Should it be during 
recess, the appointment shall be made provisionally, until the meeting of 
congress, by the permanent deputation. 

Art. 119. In case of decease or absolute impossibility during the first 
two years of exercising their functions, a new governor or vice-governor 
shall be chosen at the time of holding the next election for deputies to 
con gress. 

o _ 

Art. 120. For crimes of any kind whatever, committed during his 
term of office, the vice-governor can be accused onlv before congress, 

y CD 


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332 


Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 


\ 


SECTION III. 

Executive Council. 

Art. 121. For the better discharge of the duties of his office the gov¬ 
ernor shall have a body for consultation, to be styled Executive Council, 
which shall be composed of three voters proper, and two substitutes, of 
all whom one only can be an ecclesiastick. 

Art. 122. For being a member of the council the same qualifications 
shall be required as for being a deputy. Those not eligible as deputies, 
cannot be councillors. 

Art. 123. The council shall be renewed every two years, one voter 
proper, and one substitute, the last chosen, retiring in the first, the other 
members proper and the other substitute in the second instance, and so 
on successively. 

Art. 124. No councillor can be re-elected until the fourth year from 
the expiration of his office. 

Art. 125. When the vice-governor attends the council he shall preside 
without having a vote, and in that case the vice-governor shall not at¬ 
tend. 

Art. 126. The secretary of the council shall be one of the members 
thereof, in the manner and form provided in its internal rules, which 
the council itself shall form and present to the executive, who shall trans¬ 
mit them to congress for approval. 

Art. 127. The attributes of the council shall be as follows. 

First ,—To give the governor a written report in all business wherein 
the law imposes on the latter the duty of requesting the same, and in 
other matters wherein the governor himself thinks proper to consult said 
body. 

Second ,—Watch over the observance of the constitutive act, federal 
constitution, and general laws of the union, constitution and private laws 
of the state, apprizing congress of any violations it may observe. 

Third ,—Promote establishment of, and give activity to, all the 
branches of prosperity of the state. 

Fourth ,—Propose nominations of three for filling those offices, wherein 
the law exacts this requisite. 

Fifth ,—Concur with the permanent deputation agreeably to article 89, 
on the convocation of congress to extra session, and meet with said depu¬ 
tation for the temporary measures that may be necessary in those cases 
mentioned in article 90. 

Sixth ,—Explain the accounts of all the public funds, and transmit the 
same to congress for approval. 

Art. 128. The council shall be responsible for all acts relating to the 
exercise of its attributes. 


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333 


\ 


Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 


SECTION IV. 

Election of Governor , Vice-Gove) nor and Councillors. 

Art. 129. On the day following the election of deputies to congress 
each and every electoral district junta shall choose a governor, vice gov¬ 
ernor, three councillors proper and two substitutes, holding said election 
in the mode and manner provided in articles 71, 72, 73 and 74. 

Art. 130. Said election having closed, a list signed by the secretary of 
the assembly, comprising the names of the persons elected and offices for 
which they were chosen, shall be immediately posted in the most public 
place. The acts shall be signed by the president and electors, and at¬ 
tested copies thereof authorized by the said president, secretary and tell¬ 
ers shall be transmitted, enclosed in a certified sheet, to the standing 
deputation. 

Art. 131. On the day the first ordinary sessions of congress are opened, 
the ex-president of the standing deputation shall present the aforemen¬ 
tioned attested copies, and after they are read, congress shall choose a 
committee from its own body, to which they shall be referred, that said 
committee may review the same and report thereon on the third day. 

Art. 132. On said day congress shall proceed to determine the elec¬ 
tions made by the districts, and compute the votes. 

Art. 133. The person who receives the absolute majority of votes 
of the district electoral assemblies, to be computed according to the whole 
number of voters composing the same, shall be governor, vice governor, 
or councillor, as the election under consideration may be. 

Art. 134. Should no person receive the aforesaid majority, congress 
shall elect for said offices one of the two or more individuals having the 
highest number of votes; and the same shall be done when no one has said 
respective majority, but all an equal number of votes. 

Art. 135. Should one person only receive the respective majority, and 
two or more an equal number of votes, but greater than that of all the 
others, congress shall elect one individual from among the former, to be 
run in competition for the election, with the person who received the re¬ 
spective majority. 

Art. 136. In case of tie, -the balloting shall be repeated once only, 
and should there still be a tie it shall be determined by lot. 

Art. 137. The office of governor, vice governor and councillors shall 
be discharged in preference to any other whatever in the state, and shall 
successively have the .same preference among themselves. Those elected 
to said stations shall take possession thereof on the first of March, and 
they cannot decline serving, except the deputies to congress at the time 
of the election, and those who, in the judgment of said congress, are mor¬ 
ally or physically disabled. 

Art. 138. Should the governor elect from any cause, not be pres¬ 
ent on said day to enter on the performance of his functions, the vice- 


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334 


Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 


governor newly cliosen shall enter on the discharge of the office, and 
should he also he absent, his default shall be supplied agreeably to arti¬ 
cle 118. 


SECTION Y. 

SECRETARY OE STATE. 

Art. 139. The despatch of all business whatever pertaining to the 
executive department of the state shall be under the charge of a secretary, 
to he styled Secretary of State. 

Art. 140. Eor holding said office, it shall be required to he a citizen 
in the exercise of his rights, over twenty-five years of age, a native of this 
republic, an inhabitant of this state, with three years residence therein, 
and one year immediately preceding his election. Ecclesiastics cannot 
hold said office. 

Art. 141. All laws, decrees, orders regulations and instruc- cir¬ 
culated to the towns, or directed by the governor to a particular corpora¬ 
tion or person, as well as the copies emanating from the department shall 
be authoriaed by the secretary, and without this requisite they shall not 
be obeyed, or be productive of faith. 

Art. 142. The secretary shall be responsible with his person and office 
for whatever he authorizes with his signature contrary to the constitutive 
act, the constitution and general laws of the union, or private constitu¬ 
tion and laws of the state, and orders of the president of the republic not 
manifestly opposed to said constitution and laws, without availing him 
as an excuse, his having done so by order of the governor. 

Art. 143. For the internal administration of his office the rules which 
the secretary shall form, and congress approve, shall be observed. 

Art. 144. Said public officer, also the governor, vice-governor and 
councillors shall cease, during their trust, to discharge the duties of any 
public stations they were filling, as soon as they have taken possession of 
office. 


SECTION YI. 

Department Police Chiefs , and Subordinate or District Chiefs. 

Art. 145. In the capital of each department of the state there shall 
be an officer charged with the political administration thereof, to be 
styled Department Police Chief. 

Art. 146. To be a department chief it shall be required to be a citizen 
in the exercise of his rights, to have attained the age of twenty-five years, 
to be an inhabitant of the state, with three years residence therein, and 
one of which immediately preceding his election. 

Art. 147. The governor on nomination of three by the council, sup¬ 
ported by reports from the Ayuntamientos of the respective department,, 
shall appoint the department chiefs, except the one in the capital. 


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Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 


335 


Art. 148. The chiefs of department shall be immediately subject to 
the governor, and in no way to each other. 

Art. 149. In the eapitol of each district, except the one where the de¬ 
partment chief resides, there shall be furthermore, a subordinate or dis¬ 
trict chief, appointed by the executive on nomination of three by the 
said chief of department. 

Art. 150. The subordinate or district shall possess the same qualifica¬ 
tions as the department chiefs, with the difference that the domiciliation 
and residence must be within the precincts of the same district; and they 
shall furthermore, have some honorable way of living, sufficient to afford 
them a suitable support. 

Art. 151. The term of office of the district shall be the same as that 
of the department chiefs, and, on nomination by the latter, they may also 
continue in office. 

Art. 152. No one can decline serving in said trusts, except in case of 
re-election to the same within four years of the time of serving, or from 
some other legal cause in the opinion of the governor, who shall resolve 
after hearing the respective chief of department. 

Art. 153. Both of these and the department chiefs shall be respon¬ 
sible for all their acts of omission against the constitution and general 
laws of the republic, and those of the states, the former to said chiefs of 
department, under whose immediate orders they shall act, and the latter 
to the governor. 

Art. 154. The attributes of both chiefs, and the manner they are to 
exercise the same, shall be detailed in the regulations for the politico- 
financial administration of the towns. 

SECTION VII. 

Ayuntamientos. 

Art. 155. It shall belong to the Ayuntamientos to attend carefully 
to the police, and internal administration of the towns of the state, and 
there shall be Ayuntamientos in all those towns where they have hereto¬ 
fore existed. 

Art. 156. Ayuntamientos shall be established in towns where there are 
none, wherein it is proper they should exist, and they shall be estab¬ 
lished without fail in the district capitals, whatever be the population 
thereof, and in towns which, of themselves or with the territory they em¬ 
brace contain a population to the amount of one thousand souls, unless 
said towns should be annexed to another municipality, in which case, 
(since from other considerations it may not be proper for them to sep¬ 
arate,) in order that they may have an Ayuntamiento, it shall be so de¬ 
clared by congress, after receiving the report of the governor, and the 
despatch that shall be formed, assigning the limits that are to embrace the 
new municipality. 

Art. 157. Towns that should not possess the population assigned, 
and which find it practicable being advantageously annexed to 


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336 


Constitution of Coahuita and Texas. 


another or others, shall constitute a municipality, and the Ayuntamiento 
shall be established at the place most convenient in the opinion of the 
executive. 

Art. 158. In towns wherein Ayuntamientos cannot be established, and 
which are so distant from the other municipalities that the latter cannot 
attend to the internal administration thereof, the electoral juntas of that 
to which they belong shall choose a commissary of police and a sindioo 
procurador to discharge the duties assigned them in the regulations for 
the political administrations of the towns. 

Art. 159. The Ayuntamientos shall be composed of the Alcalde or 
Alcaldes, Sindico or Sindicos and Regiclores, whose number shall be 
designated in the aforementioned regulations. 

Art. 160. To be a member of the Ayuntamiento it shall be required to 
a citizen in the exercise of his rights, over twenty-live years of age, or 
twenty-one being married, an inhabitant within the jurisdiction of the 
Ayuntamiento, with three years residence therein, one year immediately 
preceding their election, to have some capital or trade whereby to subsist, 
and to be able to read and write. 

Art. 161. Public officers receiving a salary from the state, military 
and other officers of the general government in actual discharge of their 
duties, and ecclesiastics, cannot be members of the Ayuntamiento. 

Art. 162. The Alcaldes shall all be replaced every year, of the regi- 
dores, one half their number, and sindicos procuradores the same, should 
there be two; should there be only one he shall be replaced every year. 

Art. 163. A person who has performed the duties of said trusts, cannot 
hold any other municipal office, or be re-elected to that which he tilled, 
until after two years from having ceased therein. 

Art. 164. The members of the Ayuntamientos shall be chosen by the 
municipal electoral meetings, which shall be holden in the same manner 
as the municipal meetings established for the election of deputies to 
congress. The former juntas shall be convoked on the first Sunday in 
December, and they shall meet and perform their duties on the second 
Sundav and dav following. 

Art. 165. Pursuant to said meetings those citizens who have received 
the greatest number of votes in the respective lists shall be considered 
constitutionally elected as Alcaldes, Regidores and Sindicos. In case of a 
tie between two or more persons it shall be decided by lot by the Ayunta¬ 
miento acting at the time of the election. 

Art. 166. Should any member of the Ayuntamiento decease, or his 
office become vacant from any other cause, the person receiving the high¬ 
est number of votes in the order of the respective list shall succeed him 
in the discharge of the duties. 

Art. 167. Ayuntamiental offices shall be municipal charges, which no 
one can decline. 


( 440 ) 


Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 


337 


TITLE III. 

JUDICIAL POWER. 

SOLE SECTION. 

Administration oj Justice in general. 

tin Uttu -.1 V iM-i- 

Art. 168. The administration of justice in civil and criminal cases shall 
exclusively belong to the tribunals and courts of justice which agreeably 
to the constitution should exercise the judicial power. 

Art. 169. Neither congress, or the governor can remove cases pending; 
from an inferior to a superior court; nor can the tribunals and courts of 
justice themselves open those already concluded. 

Art. 170. Every inhabitant of the state shall be judged by competent 
tribunals and judges, established prior to the act by which he is judged, 
and in no way by special commission, or retroactive law. 

Art. 171. The laws shall regulate the order and formalities to be ob¬ 
served in suits at law. These shall be uniform in all the courts of jus¬ 
tice and tribunals, and no authority can dispense therewith. 

Art. 172. The tribunals and courts of justice, being authorised solely 
for applying the laws, shall never interpret the same, or suspend their 
execution. 

Art. 173. Military men and ecclesiastics, residing in the state, shall 
continue subject to their respective authorities. 

Art. 174. No affair shall have more than three processes, and a like 
number of determinate decisions. The law shall provide which of said 
sentences shall produce a warrant of attorney, and from said sentence no 
other appeal shall be admitted than that of nullity, in the form, and for 
the purposes the law provides. 

Art. 175. A judge who has rendered a decision in a case, in any 
process thereof, cannot take cognizance anew in any other process what¬ 
ever, or in appeal of nullity interposed in said case. 

Art. 176. Bribery, subornation and prevarication are ground for pub¬ 
lic action against the magistrate or judge who should commit the same. 

Art. 177. Justice shall be administered in the name of the state, in the 
manner the laws prescribe. 


PARAGRAPH FIRST. 

Administration of Justice in Civil Matters. 

Art. 178. Every inhabitant of the state shall be perfectly free to ter¬ 
minate his controversies, whatever be the state of the trial, by means 
of arbitrators, or in any other extrajudicial manner. His agree- 


(447 ) 


338 


Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 


merits in this particular shall be strictly observed, and the decisions of 
arbitrators executed, should the parties on making the mutual promise 
not reserve the right of appeal. 

Art. 179. Cases of a small amount shall be terminated by executive 
measures which shall be executed without any recourse. A particular 
law shall fix the sum and mode of proceeding therein. 

Art. 180. In other civil and criminal matters in respect to wrongs 
there shall be a trial by conciliation, and without proving that this means 
has been attempted a trial by writing cannot be established, except 
in cases which the law' itself shall determine. 


PARAGRAPH SECOND. 

Administration of .Justice in Criminal Matters . 

Art. 181. All criminal actions, for light transgressions that should 
be punished by correctional penalties, shall be decided by executive judg¬ 
ment without the form or shape of trial, and from the result no appeal, 
or any other recourse can be interposed. The law shall assign said penal¬ 
ties, and determine the crimes to which they correspond. 

Art. 182. In grave offences summary information of the fact shall be 
drawn up authoritatively, without which requisite and that of the cor¬ 
responding consequent warrant that shall be notified to the accused, and 
a copy thereof communicated to the jailor, no person can be a prisoner. 

Art. 183. Should the judges not be able immediately to fulfil the pro¬ 
vision of the preceding articles, the person arrested shall not be consid¬ 
ered a prisoner but in the light of one detained; and should the jail war¬ 
rant not be made known to him within forty-eight hours, and communi¬ 
cated to the jailor, he shall be discharged. 

Art. 184. A person who gives bail in said cases, wherein it is not ex¬ 
pressly prohibited by law, shall not be taken to prison, and in whatever 
state of the cause it appears that corporal penalty cannot be imposed on 
the prisoner, he shall be released under bail. 

Art. 185. Those who have to declare in criminal matters upon their 
own actions shall do so without being under oath. 

Art. 186. All persons may arrest a delinquent in the act, and conduct 
him to the presence of the judge. 

Art. 187. The greatest care shall be taken that the jails serve only for 
securing, and not for molesting the accused. 

Art. 188. Criminal causes shall be public, in the manner and form 
the law's provide, as soon as it is proposed to receive the declaration of 
the accused in reply to the charges. 

Art. 189. The confiscation of property shall forever be prohibited, and 
even the seizure thereof can only be effected on proceeding in crimes in¬ 
volving a pecuniary responsibility, and only in proportion thereto. 


» 


( 448 ) 


Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 


339 


Art. 190. Torture and compulsion shall never he used, and penalties 
imposed, whatever be the crimes, shall never pass to the family of him 
who suffers them, but they shall have their effect solely upon the person 
who deserved them. 

Art. 191. No authority of the state can issue a mandate for searching 
the houses, papers, and other effects of the inhabitants thereof, except in 
those cases, and in the form, the laws provides. 

Art. 192. One of the main objects of attention of congress shall he to 
establish the trial by jury in criminal cases, to extend the same gradu¬ 
ally, and even to adopt it in civil cases in proportion as the advantages 
of this valuable institution become practically known. 


PARAGRAPH THIRD. 

Inferior Courts of Justice and Superior Tribunals. 

Art. 193. The inferior courts of justice shall continue in the manner 
and form that shall be prescribed by law, until in the judgment of con¬ 
gress the state rents permit the establishment of learned judges, who shall 
be appointed in each district. 

Art. 194. In the capital of the state there shall be a supreme tribunal 
divided into three halls, each composed of the magistrate or magistrates 
whom the law designated, and said tribunal shall have a fiscal, who shall 
despatch all the subjects of the three halls. Should the hall consist of 
one minister only, said special law shall determine whether colleagues 
should be appointed, and the manner and form it shall be done. 

Art. 195. The two first halls shall take cognizance in the second and 
third processes of civil cases, of inferior courts of justice, and also of crim¬ 
inal cases according as the laws determine. 

Art. 196. It shall belong to the third hall, 

First ,—to decide the power of inferior judges. 

Second ,—Determine appeals of nullity, interposed from executing 
judgements in first, second and third processes. 

Third ,—Take cognizance in all compulsive appeals interposed from 
the ecclesiastical tribunals and authorities of the state. 

Fourth ,—Examine the lists that shall be transmitted to the same 
monthly, of causes pending in first, second and third processes communi¬ 
cate a copy thereof to the governor, and provide for their publication 
through the press. 

Fifth ,—Hear doubts of law that occur to the two first halls, and to the 
primary tribunals, and communicate them to congress, through the chan¬ 
nel of the governor, accompanied by the corresponding report. 

Art. 197. Actions for transgressions in office entered against in¬ 
ferior judges, and also those formed for crimes of the same kind, and 
those in general against the deputies of congress, the governor and vice 
governor, counsellors, secretary of state, and members of the tribunal of 


29 —von. i. 


(449) 


340 


Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 


justice shall be opened and closed in all tlieir processes before the said 
supreme tribunal. The law shall mark out the other powers of the same 
and its respective halls. 

Art. 198. In case an action ought to be entered against the whole 
tribunal, or any of its halls, congress shall appoint another special tri¬ 
bunal, composed of the corresponding halls and the latter of the magis¬ 
trate or magistrates considered necessary. 

Art. 199. The special tribunal appointed by congress for these cases 
shall take cognizance of all appeals of nullity in actions of the supreme 
tribunal of justice, in those of the individuals mentioned in the preceding 
article, and in subjects pertaining to the third hall. 

Art. 200. To be a magistrate of fiscal it shall be required to be a citi¬ 
zen in the exercise of his rights over twenty-five years of age, a native of 
this republic, and an upright and enlightened lawyer. 

Art. 201. Both magistrates and fiscal shall be appointed by congress 
on nomination by the executive. They shall receive a competent salary, 
to be designated by law, and cannot be removed from office, except, from 
a legally established cause. 

Art. 202. The members of the supreme tribunal of justice shall he 
responsible for all their proceedings in the discharge of their functions, 
and may be accused therefor before congress by any individual of the 
people whatever. 


TITLE IV. 

SOLE SECTION. 

State Revenue. 

Art. 203. The taxes of the individuals composing the state shall form 
its public revenue. 

Art. 204. Said taxes may be direct, general, or municipal, but of what¬ 
ever kind they are, they shall be proportionate to the expenditures they 
are to cover, and to the property of the citizens. 

Art. 205. Taxes can not be levied except for paying the portion cor¬ 
responding to the state of the general disbursements of the republic, and 
covering the private expense of the state. The taxes for the latter object 
shall be fixed expressly, on the first term of session, every year, and ac¬ 
cording to the pre-estimate to be presented by the governor, and approved 
by congress. 

Art. 206. The present taxes shall continue until their repeal be pub¬ 
lished, and said repeal cannot be decreed except by congress. 

Art. 207. There shall be in the capital a general treasury for the re¬ 
ceipt, custody and distribution of the whole product of the state rents. 


(450 ) 



Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 


Ml 


Art. .208. No pay that lias not been for covering expense approved by 
■congress, or by special order of the governor shall be allowed the treas¬ 
urer in account. 

Art. 209. The business rooms of the state revenue shall be regulated 
by particular instructions. 

Art. 210. Congress shall choose three individuals every year from 
within or without its own body, to examine the accounts of the state 
treasury, and afterwards to present or communicate the same, accompa¬ 
nied by their report to congress for approval. Said approval, or the reso¬ 
lution that should be adopted by congress shall be published and circu¬ 
lated to the Ayuntamientos, in order that they may publish and circulate 
the same in their districts. 


TITLE Y. 

SOLE SECTION. 

Civic Militia of the State. 

Art. 211. Corps of civic militia shall be established in all the towns 
of the state, and the said corps shall compose the military force of the 
state. 

Art. 212. The formation of said corps, their organization, discipline, 
and internal government, shall be regulated by congress in conformity to 
the provision made on the subject by the general laws of the republic. 

Art. 213. Congress shall regulate the service of said militia, so that 
while it is adapted to the purposes of its institution and to the best inter¬ 
ests of the state, it may be as little onerous as possible to the citizens. 

Art. 214. No Coahuil-Texano can decline lending said service when 
required by law, and in the manner it provides. 


TITLE YI. 

SOLE SECTION. 

Public Education. 

Art. 215. In all the towns of the state a suitable number of primary 
schools shall be established, wherein shall be taught reading, writing,« 
arithmetic, the catechism of the Christian religion, a brief and simple ex-j^ 
planation of this constitution, and that of the republic, the rights and 
duties of man in society, and whatever else may conduce the better edu¬ 
cation of youth. 


( 451 ) 




342 


Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 


Art. 216. The seminaries most required for affording the public the 
means of instruction in the sciences, and arts useful to the state; and 
wherein, the aforementioned constitutions shall be fully explained, shall 
he established in suitable places, and in proportion as circumstances go on 
permitting. 

x\rt. 217. The method of teaching shall he uniform throughout the 
state, and with this view, also to facilitate the same, congress shall form 
a general plan of public education, and regulate by means of statutes 
and laws all that pertains to this most important object. 


TITLE VII. 

SOLE SECTION. 

Observance of the Constitution. 

Art. 218. The observance of the constitution in all its parts shall 
be one of the first and most sacred duties of the inhabitants of the state 
of Coahuila and Texas, and neither congress, or any other authority can 
exempt them therefrom; and every coahuil-texano may demand said ob¬ 
servance, setting forth with that view to congress or the executive. 

Art. 219. For any violation of the constitution whatever, the person 
who committed it shall be personally responsible. In order to render said 
responsibility effective congress shall dictate the laws and decrees it 
thinks conducive to that end; and furthermore, every year in its first 
sessions, take under deliberation the infringements manifested to the 
same hv the permanent deputation and executive council, and adopt the 
proper resolution thereon. 

Art. 220. The public functionaries of the state, of whatever class, shall 
make oath, on entering in possession of office, to observe, support and 
defend the coustitutive act, the constitution of the republic, and that of 
the state, and fully and faithfully to discharge the duties of their office. 

Art. 221. Propositions upon amendment, alteration, or repeal of any 
one or more of its articles, shall be made in writing, and supported and 
signed by one-third of the deputies. 

Art. 222. The congress in whose time any of the said propositions are 
made shall make no further provision, during the two years of its ses¬ 
sions, than for the reading and printing of the same, with the original 
reasons with which they are supported. 

Art. 223. The congress following shall receive the propositions for 
discussion, or reject them—and if accepted, they shall again he printed, 
and circulated by the executive to be read in the proximate electoral 
juntas previous to electing the deputies to congress. 


( 452 ) 



Constitution of Coahuila and Texas. 


343 


Art. 224. The alterations, amendments or repeals proposed shall he 
discussed in the congress that follows, and should they be approved, they 
shall he immediately published as constitutional articles. 

Art. 225. For the amendments, alterations, and repeals indicated, be¬ 
sides the rules prescribed in the foregoing articles, all those provided for 
forming and repealing laws, shall he observed, with the exception of the 
right of making observations granted the governor, which shall not be 
conceded in these cases. 

Given in Saltillo, on the 11th of March, 1827. 

SANTIAGO del VALLE, President. 

JUAN Y. CAMPOS, Vice President. 

RAFAEL R. VALDES. 

JOSE M. VIESCA. 

F. A. GUTIERREZ. 

JOSE J. de A. ROSALES. 

MARIANO VARELA. 


JOSE M. VALDES y GUAJARDO. 
JOSE C. RAMOS, D. S. 

DIONICIO ELIZONDO, D. S. 

Wherefore, I command it to be printed, published, circulated, and duly 
fulfilled. 


JOSE IGNACIO ARISPE. 


Juan Antonio Padilla, Secretary. 




( 453 ) 


COLONIZATION LAW 


OF 

THE STATE OF TAMAULI PAS. 


[No. 42.] 


December 15th, 1826. 

The Congress of the State 

General Law. 

Article 1 . Foreigners, who wish to colonize vacant lands in the state, 
shall he admitted, and their persons and property protected provided they 
submit to the laws of the republic, and those of the State. 

Art. 2. For a foreigner to obtain adjudication of lands he must be¬ 
come domiciliated in some town in the state with a capital of his own to 
afford him a decent support, or with a trade or useful industrious pursuit 
which he follows; or he must establish a new town with one hundred fam¬ 
ilies at least. Should he establish himself on the northern frontier of the 
state, fifty families shall he sufficient for that purpose. 

Art. 3. In either case they shall make their petitions in writing to 
the governor of the state, who shall resolve thereon with the concurrence 
of his council, and audience of the fiscal of the court of justice of the 
state, making them the concessions of lands that shall he hereinafter de¬ 
termined. 

Art. 4. Foreigners who claim domiciliation in any of the present 
towns, their petition being granted by the executive, shall he sworn by 
the respective political authority to observe and to comply with the con¬ 
stitutive act, the constitution and laws of the republic, and those of the 
state. 

Art. 5. After this act, the said authority shall provide that, in a book 
to be denominated Register of Foreigners , shall be written the name of 
the person who shall have taken the oath, mentioned in the foregoing 
article, whether he be married, his age, trade, and place of his birth, 
setting down also the names of the family he may have, and making rela¬ 
tion of having taken the oath prescribed. Said books shall be kept in the 
archives of each town. 


of Tamaulipas enacts the following as a 


( 454 ) 



Colonization Law of the State of Tamaulipas. 345 

Art. 6 . Certificates of naturalization and of citizenship shall he grant¬ 
ed to foreign colonists as soon as they obtain that of naturalization from 
the general congress. 

Art. 7. From the very date whereon a foreigner is thus registered he 
acquires domiciliation, and may as such an inhabitant designate (denun- 
ciar) the vacant land he thinks best, presenting himself to that effect by 
writing to the respective Alcalde, who shall decree what is proper for ex¬ 
amining, measuring and marking out the land designated, after citing the 
adjoining proprietors should there be any. 

Art. 8. The instructive despatch being terminated, and no opponent 
of right resulting, the Alcalde shall pass it to the executive of the state, 
by whom the title of adjudication and ownership shall be issued to the 
person interested, ordering that the Alcalde of the town of his residence 
put him immediately in possession of the land granted. All these pro¬ 
ceedings shall be conducted officially, and the executive shall proceed 
with the audience of the fiscal of the supreme court of justice of the 
state. 

Art. 9. Opposition of right of ownership that is commenced shall go 
through the steps of an ordinary civil trial between the designator and 
the opponent, the former aided by an agent of the state, whom with the 
citation of the fiscal the executive shall appoint. Should the opposition 
be for the right of option to the ownership, the executive shall examine 
and decide. 

Art. 10. The executive shall take care to repeople by this means the 
depopulated, and very particularly that the designations and judicial pro¬ 
ceedings that have to be conducted on account of the same, be not par- 
alized. 

Art. 11. In the same manner he shall take care that no town pro¬ 
jected by foreigners be situated within ten leagues upon the coast of the 
Gulf of Mexico within the limits of the state, without previously obtain¬ 
ing the consent and approbation of the supreme executive of the union. 
Beyond said line he shall also take care that, so far as the sites permit, 
the new towns be established in contact with the present ones, and with 
the conditions he stipulates with the empresarios. 

Art. 12. Contracts ratified by empresarios with the excutive are guar¬ 
anteed by this law so far as they are in conformity to the provisions 
thereof. 

Art. 13. In the distribution of lands, in view of their diplomas issued 
by the supreme executive power, military men, who, according to these 
are entitled to land, shall be preferred. Among citizens not military, no 
other distinction shall be made than That which is founded in their pri¬ 
vate merit, and services rendered the country; preferring, in parity of 
circumstances, a domiciliation in the place to which the lands belong. 
The quantity in which the lands are to be distributed is pointed out in 
the following articles. 

Art. 14. A square of land measuring a league upon each side, or 
what is the same thing, a superficies of twenty-five million square va- 


( 455 ) 


346 


Colonization Law of the State of Tamaulipas. 


ras shall be called a sitio, and this shall be the unit for enumerating one, 
two or more sitios, in the same manner as the unit for counting one, two 
or more labores shall be a superficies of a million square varas, or a 
thousand varas on each side, which shall compose a labor. The vara for 
these dimensions shall consist of three geometrical feet. 

Art. 15. That unit taken as a standard, and observing the distinction 
to be made on the distribution of lands, between grazing lands, or those 
suitable for raising stock, and irrigable and temporal tillage land, this law 
grants to the contractor or contractors of new towns for every hundred 
families they introduce and establish in the state five sitios of grazing 
land and five labores, of which one-lialf at least shall be temporal land; 
but they shall receive only in the ratio of eight hundred families, al¬ 
though they shall introduce more, and no fraction not completing a hun¬ 
dred shall entitle them to a premium, not even proportionally. Should 
the northern frontier he settled, fifty families shall suffice for enjoying 
the benefit of this article. 

Art. 16. To each family of those comprised in this contract, whose 
occupation is that of cultivating the soil, one labor shall be granted; 
should the family raise stock, grazing shall he added to complete a super¬ 
ficies of twenty-four million varas. 

Art. 17. Foreigners shall have the same assignment after marrying, and 
foreigners marrying natives of the country shall have one-fourth more, 
and those who are entirely alone, or who do not form a part of any fam¬ 
ily, whether foreigners or natives, contenting themselves with one-fourth 
of said assignment, the sole portion that can be granted them, which shall 
be completed to them when their assignment is made. 

Art. 18. Families and unmarried men, who having emigrated sep¬ 
arately and at their own expense, should wish to annex themselves to any 
of the new settlements, may do so at any time, and their assignment of 
land shall be respectfully the same as mentioned in the two foregoing ar¬ 
ticles; hut should they accomplish it within the first two years from the 
establishment of the settlement, one labor more shall he granted to 
families; and unmarried men, instead of one-fourth as pointed out in arti¬ 
cle 17th, shall have one-third. Men unmarried, and with a family shall 
he considered in the light of families. 

Art. 19. For the project of new towns, which one or more for¬ 
eigners offer to settle with families from one hundred upwards, or from 
fifty, should they have to settle on the northern frontier, the vacant and 
deserted lands of the state, proposition shall he made to congress by the 
executive, in order with his report to accord the contracts. 

Art. 20. Adjudication and possession to new foreign settlers shall be 
subject to the following rules:— 

First ,—All deserted lands to which at the expiration of fifty days from 
the designation thereof for settling, the supposed owners do not appear 
to prove their right, shall be considered as open for colonization. 


( 456 ) 


347 


Colonization Law of the State of Tamaulipas. 

Second, —That, which, having been adjudicated by this law, should he 
abandoned for live years, and no successor appearing within said term 
claiming a right to the same. 

Third, —That, which, having been disputed in adverse trial with re¬ 
gard to the ownership thereof, are found to be voluntarily abandoned by 
the parties for three years; or where the parties have withdrawn from the 
trial, without the formation of a determinate judgement deciding the 
right of either, provided, that the time specified by law for the trial to 
be considered as abandoned, shall expire. 

Fourth, —The boundaries that are established shall be clearly and dis¬ 
tinctly pointed out, expressing the bearings, and specific landmarks, 
under the responsibility of the judge of survey. 

Fifth, —The standing waters the lands contain shall likewise be desig¬ 
nated and adjudicated with the lands. 

Sixth ,—Until twelve years reckoned from the date of the publication 
of this law, they cannot be alienated or transferred to the OAvnership of 
any one not born in the republic, or who resides out of the state. 

Art. 21. The children of foreigners not born in the republic, and 
domiciliated therein, may inherit them by testament, or ab intestato, in 
■equal portions. The portion of him who removes to his country shall be 
divided among those Avho remain in the state, and thus indefinitely. In 
regard to this matter the right of inheritance by cross lineage shall not 
be in force. 

Art. 22. All adjudication and possession of lands designated for 
settling shall be made with previous citation of the adjoining proprietors. 
As little detriment as practicable shall be occasioned to those who do not 
appear, of themselves or by attorney, and their complaints shall not be 
heard. 

Art. 23. The new settlers shall pay to the state as an acknowledg¬ 
ment, thirty dollars for each sitio of grazing land, uncultivated, or wood¬ 
land, that is adjudicated to them; and for those having the benefit of 
running water an estimate shall be made by two competent persons, 
chosen by the executive and the settler, setting out from the established 
rule. 

Art. 24. The Avuntamientos, each in its limits, shall collect said funds 
gratis by means of a commission from within or Avithout their OAvn body, 
and shall pass them according a.s they are collected to the depositary or 
treasurer that they may be of their funds or means, who shall give the 
corresponding receipt; and Avithout further interest than two and a half 
per cent., that shall be paid him, he shall place them at the disposal 
of the executUe, giving him nofice~ every month of the receipts 
and remittances thereof, and of any negligence or deceit he may 
notice in their collection. Of the management of the treasurer and that 
of the commission, the officers themselves and commissioners shall 
be responsible with their property; and moreover, the members of the 
Avuntamiento Avho choose them, and that this responsibility may at 


( 457 ) 


348 


Colonization Law of the State of Tamaulipas. 


all times be effectual, the said appointments hall be made viva voce, and 
notice thereof shall be immediately given to the executive. 

Art. 25. The executive shall convoke those born in the repidfiic for 
the occupation of vacant lands, who shall be preferred to foreigners in 
the order of the older date of the designations, and, in case of equality, 
the natives or inhabitants of the place to which the land designated be¬ 
longs, shall have the first place, those of places within the state the second,, 
and those of the other states of this republic the third, and adjudication 
may be made up to the amount of one hundred and twenty-live million 
square varas. 

Art. 26. Designators of lands, which, in time of the ancient govern¬ 
ment did not perfect their adjudication, shall present themselves to the 
respective authority to continue its course according to the state thereof, 
effecting the same within the term of forty days from the date of the pub¬ 
lication of this law, and on the contrary said lands shall be considered 
open to designation as vacant. 

Art. 27. Designations that have passed to the congress of the state’ 
shall be returned to the executive, who shall cause them to be carried 
through the steps provided by this law. 

/ Art. 28. Proprietors of extensive deserted and uncultivated lands shall 
likewise settle them with foreigners or Mexicans within the term of five 
years with the conditions that may suit them, and on the contrary, oppo¬ 
sition to the designations made in conformity to this law shall not be 
taken into consideration 

Art. 29. The lands might he designated by reason of the foregoing 
article shall be valued by competent persons chosen by the executive and 
the proprietor, for indemnifying the proprietors, unimpeded by any re¬ 
sistance on the part of the latter. 

Art. 30. All land of which the proprietor makes no use for himself 
shall be considered as deserted and uncultivated land. 

Art. 31. Land acquired by virtue of this law cannot pass into mort¬ 
main; more than two grants cannot be adjudicated to one individual, 
and this should the increased number of those he removes demand it of 
necessity. For any violation in these cases the state shall recover the 
ownership thereof. 

Art. 32. The products of rural industry of said lands, acquired in 
conformity to this law, by natives and foreigners, during the term of ten 
years, reckoned from the date of possession shall be free from every tax, 
direct or indirect, of whatever denomination, unless specially enacted by 
congress for said new settlements. 

Art. 33. Said new settlers shall be free to promote every kind of in¬ 
dustry, and to undertake the working of mines according to the ordi¬ 
nances on the subject. The machines, tools, or serviceable articles they 
introduce for such objects, for the term of ten years shall not pay taxes 
imposed by the state, although they be municipal. 


(458) 


Colonization Law of the State of Tamaulipas. 349 

Art. 34. Lots abandoned in depopulated towns, wherein they wish to 
fix their residence, shall be adjudicated to them gratis by the Alcaldes 
of said towns. 

Art. 35. The inhabitants of the country known by the denomination 
of Indians, shall enjoy the benefit of this law. 

Art. 36. The executive shall appoint two approval surveyors, and in 
default thereof two individuals of known education to concur in the 
operations forwarded by this law, which he shall cause to be published in 
a manner sufficient for it to arrive to the notice of nations that interest 
themselves in colonizing. 


( 459 ) 


NATURALIZATION LAW 

OF THE 

GENERAL CONGRESS. 


Principal Office of Secretary of State, ) 
Department of Internal Relations. ) 

SOLE SECTION. 

His Excellency, the • President of the United States of Mexico, has 

been -pleased to direct me the following Decree. 

The President of the United States of Mexico to the inhabitants of 
the Republic; he it known: that the General Congress has decreed as fol¬ 
lows:— 

Article 1 . Every foreigner, who has resided for the term of two years 
in succession within the limits of the republic, may request a certificate 
of naturalization in conformity to what is prescribed in this law. 

Art. 2. For obtaining it, he must produce legal information to the 
district or circuit judge nearest the place of his residence, with citation 
and audience of the promoter fiscal: 

First ,—That he is a Roman Catholic, or the certificate of baptism prov¬ 
ing the same. 

Second ,—That he has some business, useful skill or income whereby 
to subsist; the witnesses being required to state what is his business, skill 
or income. 

Third ,—That he has a good character. 

Art. 3. Every person becoming naturalized shall present him¬ 
self by writing, one year beforehand, to the Ayuntamiento of the place 
in which he resides, manifesting his design in establishing himself in 


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Naturalization Law of the General Congress. 


351 


the country. An attested copy of said declaration shall accompany the 
documents mentioned in the foregoing article. 

Art. 4. He shall present himself with these documents to the governor 
of the state, or principal political chief of the federal district or terri¬ 
tories of the confederacy requesting the certificate of naturalization. 

Art. 5. The exposition wherewith he requests his certificate of nat¬ 
uralization :— 

First ,—Shall contain an express renunciation of all submission and 
obedience to any other nation or foreign government, especially the na¬ 
tion or government to which he belongs. 

Second ,—It shall be therein stated, that he likewise renounces every 
title, token of honor, or grace he may have obtained from any govern¬ 
ment. 

Third ,—That he will support the constitution, constitutive act and 
general laws of the United States of Mexico. 

Art. 6. These conditions having been complied with, the governor of 
the state, or principal political chief of the district or territory shall issue 
the certificate of naturalization agreeably to the formula annexed to this 
law. 

Art. 7. Absence to foreign countries with a passport from the govern¬ 
ment shall not interrupt the successive residence of those who desire 
to become naturalized; provided, that it does not exceed eight months. 

Art. 8. The wife, and the children when they are not free, shall be 
considered naturalized in the person of the husband. 

Art. 9. The children of Mexican citizens, born out of the territory of 
the republic shall be considered as born therein. 

Art. 10. The right of naturalization shall not descend to the children 
of those, who have never resided within the Mexican territory. 

Art. 11. The children of foreigners not naturalized born in the Mex¬ 
ican territory may obtain the certificate of naturalization; provided, that 
within the year following, their becoming free they present themselves 
to the governor of the state, district or territory wherein they wish to 
reside. 

Art. 12. Naturalization in a foreign country, and admission of office, 
commission, income, or token of honor, from another government shall 
deprive one of the rights of naturalization. 

Art. 13. Every empresario, who comes with the view of colonizing, 
and effects it in accordance with the general law, and private law of the 
respective state, shall have a right to request a certificate of naturaliza¬ 
tion, which shall be granted him making oath of due obedience to the 
constitution and laws. _ 

Art. 14. Foreigners who come to settle upon colonizable lands shall 
be considered naturalized after the expiration of one year from their es¬ 
tablishment. 


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352 


Naturalization Law of the General Congress. 


Art. 15. Foreigners, who, being in the marine service as soldiers, 
sailors, or enrolled therein, declare to the political authority nearest the 
place of their residence that they wish to become naturalized, making 
oath before said authority to support the constitution, constitutive act, 
and general laws, and that they renounce all submission and obedience to 
any other dominion or foreign government, and also, every title, token 
of honor or grace that is not of the republic of Mexico. 

Art. 16. The authorities to whom those foreigners mentioned in the 
foregoing article present themselves, shall forward to the governors of 
the respective states semi-annually an exact list, comprising the names, 
places, of nativity, age, and married or single state of the persons, who 
by virtue of said article should have become naturalized. 

Art. 17. Certificates of naturalization shall not be granted to the sub¬ 
jects, or citizens of a nation at war with the United States of Mexico. 

Art. 18. Those who have presented themselves to the general govern¬ 
ment up to the 1st of March, 1826, requesting to become naturalized, 
shall be considered to have employed the time required, complying with 
the other conditions prescribed by this law. 

Art. 19. Every year in December, the governors of the states, district, 
or territory, shall transmit to the president of the republic a statement, 
expressing the names, places of birth, skill or business, and age of the 
persons to whom certificates of naturalization should have been granted. 
A register of all the same shall be kept in the office of the Secretary 
of internal relations, and in the archives of the respective governors. 

Art. 20. Every year, on the first month of ordinary session, the sec¬ 
retary of internal relations shall transmit to both houses expressly, sepa¬ 
rate from the report, a note stating all that should be expressed in the 
reports he should have received from the governors in accordance with 
the preceding article, noticing at the conclusion thereof the faults he 
might observe on the part of the said governors, or others to whom it 
belongs, in conformity to this law. 

EE AEGIS CO AHICETO PALACIOS, 

President of the Senate. 

CASIMIEO LICEAGrA, 

President of the House of Representatives. 

Miguel Duque de Estrada, 

Secretary of the Senate. 

Jose Perez de Palacios, 

Secretary of the House of Representatives. 




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353 


FORM 

For Granting Certificates of Naturalization. 

N. JV. Governor of N. or Political Chief of N. 

N. a native of N. having complied with the requisites and conditions, 

provided, by the law of- of - of the general congress 

regulating the manner in which the certificate of naturalization should 
be granted to foreigners, and accompanying the documents that prove 
the same, by virtue of the authority conferred upon me by the said law, 
I do by these presents declare the aforesaid N naturalized in the United 
States of Mexico. 

(Date, place, and signature of the governor and his secretary .—Two 
rubrics.) 

Wherefore, I order it to be printed, published, circulated and duly 
fulfilled. 

Capitol at Mexico, on the 14th day of April, 1828. 

GUADALUPE VICTORIA. 

To Don Juan de Dios Canedo. 

And I hereby communicate the same to you for your information, and 
the consequent effects. 

God and Liberty. Mexico, April 14th, 1828. 


CANEDO. 







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